It is one of the services the firm is relying on to help offset slowing revenue growth in its retail arm.

Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos, who is also the world’s richest man, singled out its smart speaker Alexa, saying it was the company’s best-selling device.

Nicholas Hyett, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the online retailer was “tightening its grip” on its customers with add-on services such as Amazon Prime which offer free delivery and other benefits.

“With so many opportunities, the biggest problem facing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is where to focus the attention,” he added.

England collapsed once again on day one of the second Test against West Indies in Antigua.

The tourists, who were bowled out for 77 in the first Test, fell to 93-6, despite Jonny Bairstow hitting 52.

Moeen Ali struck an entertaining 60 and Ben Foakes made 35, but England lost their last four wickets for nine runs to be dismissed for 187 on a testing pitch offering uneven bounce.

The hosts reached 30-0 at the close, trailing by 157.

West Indies openers Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell showed superb discipline in batting out 21 overs and will resume on 11 and 16 respectively.

England did not bowl badly, if slightly short, but will need early wickets on day two if they are to swing the match this way and avoid a series defeat with West Indies leading the three-Test series 1-0.

England collapse yet again

Having also collapsed from 215-4 to 246 all out in the second innings of the first Test in Barbados, England were duly put in to bat by West Indies captain Jason Holder on a very green pitch.

In difficult conditions for batting, new opening pair Rory Burns and debutant Joe Denly – replacing Keaton Jennings – both played and missed with expansive drives before falling early on.

Burns edged a fine delivery from Kemar Roach that angled in and nipped away to fall for four and Denly, who narrowly survived an lbw shout on nought, was caught behind as he attempted to cut a short, wide ball from Alzarri Joseph.

There was little captain Joe Root could do about his dismissal as Joseph got one to rear sharply off a length and loop off the glove, with John Campbell parrying over his head at third slip and Shai Hope taking a diving catch running round from gully.

Jos Buttler walked down the pitch trying to negate the uneven bounce but nicked a ball he could have left, and Ben Stokes was undone by Shannon Gabriel moving the ball away from round the wicket to edge behind, shortly after exchanging words with the fast bowler.

Although Bairstow, Moeen and Foakes ensured England avoided the humiliation of that first innings in Barbados, this was another worrying batting performance, especially in contrast to the assuredness of Brathwaite and Campbell on the same pitch.

“We’re trying to understand what the different scenarios can be. If there is no deal, we’ll have to trade in a different way as tariffs will be applied, new inspections and this means we add new processes to current situations,” he says.

Ultimately it means more work, more time, more people to make checks and all that means more costs.

“The cost in agriculture and margins are very very tight, and the history of prices shows tomatoes haven’t increased in 15 years,” he says.

“With all costs increasing our margins are so tight – we can’t absorb any more cost and any more costs in that chain means losses and having to decide to do something else.”

Image caption
A worker processes cherry tomatoes at the Bonnysa plant

We start the day at Bonnysa’s vast greenhouse complex which spans a huge valley in northern Alicante. The sun shines brightly and the temperature is around 15 degrees, a reminder of why salad growing here is much easier than in the UK in January.

In the greenhouse we visit, we meet two pickers undertaking the fortnightly harvest. Within 15 minutes they’ve gathered trays of their bright red bounty and it is on to the factory for processing.

The pickers have no idea how many cherry tomatoes pass across the factory floor per year – they laugh when I ask. And it’s not hard to understand why. They’re everywhere.

One sorting line spreads them, then photographs them and another separates them. We see all of the big UK supermarkets’ labels on the boxes bound for the UK, but I can’t tell you who they are as the firms requested confidentiality. For them, it is too sensitive to be heard talking about Brexit – even when it’s just tomatoes.

Image caption
Trota transports 200 lorries of tomatoes to the UK every week

Angel Jiminez is director of exports at Trota, a logistics firms that sends 200 lorries of tomatoes to the UK every week.

So how would a no deal Brexit affect their business? “Right now there is no paperwork involved to cross the border and we can cross easily, but more paperwork means delays. Time is money, more days is more time – and it is the final buyer who pays for everything.”

He also says the haulier industry is no where near prepared enough: “Brexit is not going to be easy at the beginning.”

Uri is one of the many Trota drivers that transport Bonnysa’s cherry tomatoes to the UK. It’s Monday and he’s just about to begin the 2,000km journey from the Alicante plant, across Spain and France, and on to Britain through the Channel Tunnel.

Eurotunnel is the preferred crossing for most perishable food items, and by volume the tunnel carries more food than car parts because of its speed and access to market. For Bonnysa it is vital that it continues to function smoothly after Brexit, whatever deal is achieved.

At least according to the company that operates the tunnel, firms need not worry.

“Here at Eurotunnel we’re ready, soft Brexit, hard Brexit we’ve been preparing for two and a half years. We’ve taken the worst case scenario as our goal all the way through,” says John Keefe, director of public affairs at Eurotunnel.

“We will be able to deliver our transport system from day one from both sides.”

I join Uri in the truck from Calais and we head through the tunnel and into Folkestone for the final leg of his journey – on to the supermarket distribution centre. All in all, it takes just over two and a half days to transport a tomato from Bonyssa’s vines to sub-zero temperatures in Dartford.

They’ll be on the supermarkets on Friday in time for your weekend salad.

There is zero friction on our journey (apart from some snow), but the concern from Spain is that the introduction of new checks and customs at any point in the trip will add new costs if there’s a no deal Brexit – and that means higher prices for UK shoppers, a thought shared by Justin King, former boss of Sainsbury’s.

“The nature of our very efficient food supply chain is there is little surplus cost or margin along the way,” he says. “The more inefficient it becomes, the ability of suppliers and retailers to absorb that is very limited. They will be passed on to consumers and really quite quickly.”

Guidelines about what constitutes “obscene” pornography have been relaxed in England and Wales.

The Crown Prosecution Service had previously listed torture and bondage, among other acts, as obscene.

Distributing that type of pornography either on or offline could therefore have led to a prosecution.

But the CPS has now removed the list and replaced it with series of “tests” that determine whether an image or video is classed as obscene.

What has changed?

Owning or distributing an “obscene” video is an offence under the Obscene Publications Act.

Some of the acts previously listed by the CPS were legal to perform with a consenting adult, but were illegal to depict in photos or videos.

“Distributing” obscene material can simply mean sending a video via private message and it can be punished with time in prison.

While the definition of obscene is likely to mean more than just “shocking” or “disgusting”, it is open to interpretation.

For that reason, the CPS previously offered guidance that described the sort of content that could lead to a prosecution.

The list included clearly illegal acts, such as having sex with an animal (bestiality).

However, it also listed practices that others argued were not harmful among consenting adults, such as:

sadomasochism

torture with instruments

bondage

activities involving “perversion”, such as urinating or defecating on to the body

Now, the CPS has removed all the specific examples from its guidance.

“It is not for the CPS to decide what is considered good taste or objectionable,” it said in a statement.

A new test

Instead of a list of forbidden acts, the new guidance says owning or producing pornographic material is unlikely to be prosecuted if:

it features consenting adults, where the provision of consent is made clear where consent may not be easily determined from the material itself

no serious harm is caused, whether physical or otherwise

it is not otherwise linked with other criminality

the likely audience is not under 18

The CPS said it would “continue to robustly apply the law to anything which crosses the line into criminal conduct and serious harm”.

Lawyer Myles Jackman, who fought for the change, told BBC News: “I have campaigned for this important change to the English criminal law, which has a profound impact for free speech and privacy… for over 10 years.”

Professional pornography

The Audiovisual Media Services Regulations, introduced in 2014, mean online pornography falls under the R18 rating given by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).

The BBFC’s guidelines forbid “material judged to be obscene under the current interpretation of the Obscene Publications Act”.

It has not announced plans to change its guidelines. The BBC has contacted the BBFC for comment.

Energy giant Npower, oneof the big six energy providers in the UK, plans to cut 900 jobs to save costs.

The energy firm said the number of redundancies would be “considerably lower” because of natural turnover.

The firm blamed “an incredibly tough” retail energy market for the decision and the government’s new price cap which began at the start of January.

Npower employs 6,300 people. It said it was too early to say in which departments the cuts would fall.

However, a spokesman for the firm said it was aiming to preserve its customer service support team.

“Even with these reductions, we still forecast significant losses this year, but we’re doing everything we can to minimise them whilst continuing to focus on service and value for our customers,” said Npower chief executive Paul Coffey.

The government’s new price cap will keep energy bills below £1,137 a year for “typical usage”.

It was introduced to stop people who did not switch energy provider being stuck on expensive default deals.

However, many providers have said the cap has made the market unviable, with several smaller energy firms collapsing since it was announced.

Image copyrightGetty Images

Image caption
Npower had planned to merge with larger rival SSE last year

Matt Lay, the national energy officer at union Unison, said Npower’s announcement was “the tip of the iceberg”.

“Npower isn’t the only firm struggling. The UK’s entire retail energy market is broken and in need of an urgent fix.

“Households across the country are now better off because of the price cap. But as more energy suppliers shed staff, or go under completely, it’s businesses and consumers who’ll end up picking up the tab,” he said.

Merger derailed

Npower was due to merge its retail business with larger rival SSE last year, but the firms scrapped the plan after the cap was announced.

The merger would have seen SSE’s household energy division, SSE Energy Services, combined with the retail operations of Npower, which is owned by Germany’s Innogy.

SSE blamed the performance of the two businesses, the energy price cap and changing energy market conditions for the decision.

In the beautiful Midwest, windchill temperatures are reaching minus 60 degrees, the coldest ever recorded. In coming days, expected to get even colder. People can’t last outside even for minutes. What the hell is going on with Global Waming? Please come back fast, we need you!

This will be cold comfort for those of you shivering in the Midwest but, says Tim Woolings, the icy air that engulfed you this week would have been at least a degree colder had it not been for the warming that has already raised average winter temperatures in the arctic.

In the days after the BBC reported on Molly’s death, youth suicide prevention charity Papyrus say it saw a “spike” in calls to its UK helpline from families reporting similar stories.

What has Instagram said?

Instagram said its thoughts were with Molly’s family and those affected by suicide or self-harm.

They said they have deployed engineers to start making changes to make it harder for people to search for and find self-harm content.

The company, which is owned by Facebook, acknowledged it had a “deep responsibility” to ensuring the safety of young people on the platform and had started a review of its policies around suicide and self-injury content.

The company also said it would

Start to make it harder for people to search for and find self-harm content

Restrict the ability of users to find the content through hashtags

Introduce sensitivity screens over self-harm content

Stop recommending accounts that post self-harm content

It says anybody can report content or accounts that they believe to be against the community guidelines.

Families can ask the company to remove accounts if the user is physically or mentally incapacitated. They can also report accounts belonging to a child under the age of 13.

The company says it does not usually close accounts because a parent has requested it, arguing that parents are in the best position to monitor and advise teenagers on responsible social media use.

It says Instagram has a responsibility to users and believes young people should be able to express themselves and find communities of support such as LGBT groups.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionFacebook, which owns Instagram, says it is “deeply upset” by the death of Molly Russell

He also added that experts had said not all related content should be banned as it provided a way for people to get help.

“I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but they do say that in some instances it’s better to keep some of the distressing images up if that helps people make a cry for help and then get the support they need,” he said.

Analysis

By BBC correspondent Angus Crawford

At the heart of problem is an algorithm. Or really a series of algorithms. Complex instructions written into code.

They underpin the mechanics of social media. Analysing everything you do on a platform – pinging you more of the content you like and adverts for things you never knew you wanted.

Interest transforms into clicks, which translates into engagement and finally “sales” – with data being scraped all the time – that’s the business model.

But there-in lies the problem. If you like pictures of puppies, you’ll get more of them. If you seek out material on self-harm and suicide – the algorithm may push you further and further down that pathway.

Add to that the scale of the operation – Instagram says it has one billion users.

How do you effectively police that without driving your users away – consumers, especially teenagers, are picky, impatient and averse to anything that puts “friction” into their enjoyment. Annoy your users and they’ll leave for good.

Finally there’s verification – anyone who has a phone and an email can sign up for a social media account. And you can be totally anonymous – bad behaviour loves dark places.

To be fair to Instagram it has started making changes – restricting hashtags, no more “recommending” of self-harm accounts. Soon they’ll be blurring images of self-harm.

But here’s the dilemma for the tech companies – how do you tinker with an algorithm at the heart of your platform to make people safer, if those changes could undermine the very business model you are trying to protect?

What are politicians doing?

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he was “horrified” by Molly’s death and feels “desperately concerned to ensure young people are protected”.

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, Mr Hancock called on social media sites to “purge” material promoting self-harm and suicide.

When asked if social media could be banned, Mr Hancock said: “Ultimately parliament does have that sanction, yes” but added “it’s not where I’d like to end up.”

“If we think they need to do things they are refusing to do, then we can and we must legislate,” he said.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright told MPs the government is “considering very carefully” calls to impose a legal duty of care on social media companies.

He said there had been some activity by social media companies but not enough, adding that it would be “wrong to assume that this House or this Government can sit back and allow the social media companies to do this voluntarily”.

Labour’s deputy leader and culture spokesman Tom Watson accused Facebook of being more focused on “profiting from children” rather than protecting them.

Senior Conservative backbencher Sir Graham Brady has told the BBC that he could accept a delay to Brexit – as long as a deal was already agreed.

He said a short delay to the 29 March exit date would be acceptable if needed to get legislation through Parliament.

The government says its position has not changed on the date but Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has suggested “extra time” may be needed.

MPs rejected a bid to postpone Brexit if no deal was reached by 26 February.

That amendment, from the Labour MP Yvette Cooper, would have delayed the 29 March departure date by several months, but it was voted down by 321 to 298 on Tuesday.

But Sir Graham, chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers, told Nick Robinson’s Political Thinking podcast, the Cooper amendment “would have been deeply counter-productive because it moves off the decision point”.

Putting off the decision would only lead to more uncertainty, he said.

“I would only countenance a delay if we already had a deal agreed, it’s just a matter of doing the necessary work to implement it,” said Sir Graham.

“Once we’ve reached an agreement and we know the terms on which we’re leaving, if we decide that we need another two weeks in order to finish the necessary legislation through Parliament, I don’t think anybody’s going to be too worked up about that, because we will have made a decision.”

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Your guide to Brexit jargon

The UK is due to leave the European Union at 23:00 on 29 March, however MPs have overwhelmingly rejected the withdrawal deal that the government had negotiated with the EU.

On Tuesday they voted for the prime minister to seek “alternative arrangements” to the controversial Irish “backstop” proposal, which is opposed by many Conservative MPs and the Democratic Unionist Party.

The backstop is an “insurance” policy to stop the return of checks on goods and people along the Northern Ireland border, if no deal is reached in time. It would effectively keep the UK inside the EU’s customs union, but with Northern Ireland also conforming to some rules of the single market.

Its critics say a different status for Northern Ireland could threaten the existence of the UK and fear that the backstop could become permanent.

But the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said on Wednesday the backstop was “part and parcel” of the withdrawal deal and would not be renegotiated.

Earlier on Thursday, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said “extra time” may be needed to finalise legislation for Brexit and a possible delay in the UK’s departure from the EU depended on the progress made in the coming weeks.

And BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said there had been “growing chatter” about a potential delay and a potential extension to Article 50 – the mechanism by which the UK leaves the EU.

But the prime minister’s official spokesman said the government remained committed to leaving the EU on 29 March.

The next theme is “wheels” and the deadline for your entries is 5 February. If you would like to enter, send your pictures to yourpics@bbc.co.uk. Further details and terms can be found by following the link to “We set the theme, you take the pictures” at the bottom of the page.